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Sticker Bombing

The stickers I received at the event.

This past weekend I attended a networking event of graphic designers. I'm an art direction major so I rub elbows with graphic designers all the time. I even take upon the role of graphic designer often. At this event I got introduced to this subculture that I had heard of but knew little about. Sticker bombing. There was about 50 people at this small event and they were all handing out stickers. Some were fairly simple that had personal branding and promotion. Others were uniquely shaped and well designed. I took a few of the ones I liked and stuck them in my bag. After the event everyone moved the socializing to a bar. On our way people started taking the stickers and sticking them on everything. Light posts, fences, stop lights, the "El" supports, atms, stop signs, and many other places.

I've only heard about this once before by a fellow student. He was in class with a huge stack of USPS stickers. On each one he would draw the same mark. The teacher asked what he was doing and he explained that he was part of a sticker subculture. He would send his stickers to different people all over the world and in return they would send him one back. He showed us pictures of his apartment walls covered in stickers.

So in preparing for this blog post I did a little bit of research. Sticker bombing is another form of street art. It allows the artist to take his or her time with the art and then quickly slap the art on a wall. This allows for a lower risk of being apprehended and the stickers cause less damage.

I've always been interesting in street art. I wanted to come up with a design and try "street arting" it sometime. It was cool to discover this sticker culture and I want to explore it a little bit more.